


Just this once

by Red_In_Every_Sense_Of_The_Word



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Chris Redfield x Piers Nivans, Chris is vaguely worried, Claire Redfield and Piers Nivans (BROTP), Claire and Piers are friends, Claire is a good wingwoman, I actually wrote this at a decent time of day, M/M, Mentions of RE1, Nivanfield, Other, Pre REvelations 2, Pre Re6, The BSAA recruits wreak havoc in the background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:34:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24117328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_In_Every_Sense_Of_The_Word/pseuds/Red_In_Every_Sense_Of_The_Word
Summary: Eight pictures. Each with a story, each a piece of Chris Redfield's life to solve in a way. What better way to spend an uneventful afternoon, then laughing over old photos of your Captain with his sister?Or: Claire and Piers look at old photos of Chris.
Relationships: Piers Nivans & Claire Redfield, Piers Nivans/Chris Redfield
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	Just this once

**Author's Note:**

> Another one finished! This one was meant to be just a Claire and Piers friendship thing, but I somehow managed to fit some NivanField in there lmaO- 
> 
> Well, hope you enjoy!

Her boots crunched across the gravel of the training yard as she walked, weaving her way past left-out equipment and unopened boxes as she made her way towards the outdoor shooting range that had previously been set up for sniper’s practice. It was warm out despite the overcast sky, the waning breeze sending a brief chill through her as she zipped up her jacket. Claire surveyed the area, trying to pick out the familiar brown hair among the BSAA soldiers and rookies scattered around the area. 

She had decided to come out on a day when she knew Chris wouldn’t be around. As much as she loved her older brother, she preferred to keep her ‘legendary status’ muted, not something you can easily do when your overly-proud brother is showing you off to every BSAA Agent in a ten-mile radius.

Those who already knew her nodded or waved politely as she passed. She made sure to wave back, eyes wandering around before she found her friend among a crowd of what looked to be newcomers, judging by the overconfident looks on their faces. They all held shit-eating grins, seemingly trying to wind up their senior officer.

That, of course, changed as soon as the BSAA Alpha Lieutenant rolled his eyes and took aim at the tied up dummy targets across from him. He fired seamlessly each time, one, two, three, four. Each bullet found it’s target point-blank. He rose, shouldering his rifle with a smirk on his face, victory in his eyes. The newbies weren’t smiling anymore, most stood in awe at the accuracy and a few even looked embarrassed. 

She overheard him scolding the group before he ended up turning the situation into a teachable moment about pride and cockiness. Claire finally caught his eye, raising her eyebrows and giving him a little wave. His face immediately lit up. He sent the novices about their duties and made his way over to her.

She pulled the man into a brief hug, careful to miss hitting her arms on the rifle he had slung on his shoulder. He happily returned the hug, squeezing her tight before they separated at last. “How are you doing, Piers?” Claire asked. “The usual, people to save, amateurs to train.” He glanced back towards the recruits as he talked. “Sounds like things have been busy for the BSAA huh, hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Claire remarked as they idly paced around the grounds. “Don’t worry, I'm just observing these exercises, for now, you're not interrupting anything. And yeah, I’ve noticed there's been an influx in bio-terror related incidents lately.” His brows knitted together in thought.

“Don’t I know it.” Claire shuddered a bit from the wind. “Terrasave’s resources have been spread wide and thin, my people've been helping as much as we can, but there's just too little of us and too many of… Them.” She had steel in her eyes as her look of frustration matched Piers’. Piers hummed in thought for a bit, before piping up again. “Well, if Terrasave needs any more help, they’re always welcome to ask the BSAA. We could probably spare some manpower.” He shrugged, a small smile brightening his features.

Claire grinned fondly back, crossing her arms. “I’ll be sure to mention it to my higher-ups. Anyways, I didn’t come all the way out here just to bitch about our mutual frustrations.” She walked ahead of him. “Guess it's down to business then.” Piers took on a foreboding tone as Claire spun around, fishing through her shoulder bag.  
She finally found what she was looking for, locking her eyes with Piers’ as she slowly whipped the objects out of her bag dramatically. Claire waved the small collection of old-looking photographs in front of her, as Piers closed the distance with haste. She backed away as he made a grab for them. “Easy, these are priceless.” Claire imitated a snobbish tone reminiscent of a car salesman as she talked. Piers burst out laughing, causing Claire to do the same. 

They often joked around like this, they both had a flair for the dramatic and found the most stupid and insignificant things inherently funny. Piers recovered his composure quickly, taking the opportunity to snatch a photograph out of Claire’s stack. Claire let out an indignant “Hey!” As Piers paced mindlessly behind her, inspecting the photo. Claire turned around as Piers looked at her incredulously.

“This isn’t him.” Piers looked a little pink as his eyes darted between Claire’s grinning frame walking up, and the photo in his hands. The photo depicted a younger Chris Redfield before the Mansion Incident, shirtless with his hands wrapped. The scene appeared as if he was in the process of beating a punching bag, his skin sheened from sweat and perspiration. Piers was going pinker by the second. Claire waved a hand in front of the Lieutenant's face, snapping him out of his, frankly dangerous, thoughts. 

“You good Nivans?” She held a knowing smirk upon her lips, pulling the photo out of his hands gently, and fitting it in in the back of her pile. She patted his shoulder before pointing to some nearby benches. “How about we go sit down, then you can start drooling without fear of fainting on the spot.” Piers’ face was burning by now, he punched her arm playfully and covered his face with his other hand.

The two made their way to the aforementioned benches, Piers’ blush beginning to fade. They sat across from each other, Piers facing the cadets as to keep an eye on them and depositing his rifle on the floor, leaning against the side of the table. Claire began spreading each photo on the table like she was dealing playing cards. There were a total of 8 pictures. There were a few of Chris in his S.T.A.R.S days, some of a younger Chris in casual wear, of course, there was the shirtless picture and lastly there were two more recent pictures of Chris in uniform.

Piers beamed softly as he flipped through the pictures. He snorted at the silly nature of the casual ones, one of the photos depicting him with Claire at her college graduation. Chris had his arm around his sister, making a silly face at the camera as Claire seemed mid-laugh when it was taken. 

The S.T.A.R.S photos mainly depicted Chris with his friends, Jill Valentine, Forest Speyer and Joseph Frost. He had heard from a previous conversation with Agent Valentine, that Speyer and Frost had perished in the Mansion incident. Chris had taken the loss of his friends hard, and with pictures like these, you could tell why. The four of them clearly cared about each other. Piers trailed his fingers down the pictured Chris’s S.T.A.R.S uniform, letting out a small “Hmph.” 

Claire raised an eyebrow in Piers’ direction, putting her phone on the table. “Wanna share with the class?” She questioned. Piers folded his arms on the table. “I was just thinking. Man, the Captain really didn’t have much taste in fashion back then, huh.” Claire snorted. “What makes you think that's changed any?” The two laughed at that. “Oh, I don’t know Redfield, these pictures on the other hand…” Piers picked up one of the pictures of Chris in uniform. “...Are quite fashionable.” Piers flipped the photo to show Claire the picture of Chris in his black military uniform, medals proudly displayed and cap resting atop his head.

“I do think my brother can pull off a suit, it's a shame he hates them.” Claire relented. “Hey, maybe if we convinced the BSAA to throw more parties, we could get him to wear one more often.” Piers joked. “Yeah! I get to take the piss out of his discomfort, and you get your eye candy!” Piers reddened again, hushing her as he looked around. He noticed a few cadets staring at them, although one glare later they hurried back to work. He sighed before sending Claire a half-hearted glare, as she merely smiled back.

Claire cracked her knuckles, checking her phone again before putting it down. “Got somewhere you need to be, Clary?” Claire beamed at the use of her old nickname, folding her hands on the table. “Nah, it’s just one of my co-workers updating me on a long-time friend of mine possibly becoming new recruit. Moira Burton? I'd be taking her under my wing if she joined.” Piers perked up. “Burton? As in Barry Burton?” Claire nodded. “Yep, Barry himself isn’t too happy about his daughter’s application to Terrasave either, so its pretty much a flaming dumpster fire of a situation right now.”

“Sounds tough, guess that's why you’re not answering then.” Piers referred to her lack of typing. Claire looked sheepish. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m fond of my job, but I don’t consider myself capable of training cadets, let alone ones I know personally. Moira's a capable and cool girl from what I've seen and heard over the years I've known her, I just doubt I'll be any help to her in terms of the job.” Claire shrugged. 

Piers rubbed the back of his neck. “Hmm… Well the way I see it, you’ve got two options. You could pass the kid off to someone else. Maybe that lucky co-worker of yours can break her into the work right and she's good to go. Or, perhaps your co-worker could fail in breaking her in right and the kid gets herself killed. Or, there's option two. You take her on, take her under your wing. Teach her more of what you know, maybe hand off some of that Redfield survival instinct you and the Captain have going on.”

Piers halted for a second, locking eyes with a rookie who was messing with one of the unopened boxes. The cadet backed off awkwardly as Piers shook his head in annoyance. He turned back to Claire and apologized before resuming his sentence.

“...As I was saying, if you chose to mentor the kid yourself, you very well could save that Burton girl’s life. I've seen a lot of senior soldiers take on students, some did good, moulded their cadets into some of the best Agent’s I’ve worked with. Some of them… Some of them got their cadets killed. Being a mentor isn’t about whether you think you’re good enough to do it, because anyone can think that way and still fuck up spectacularly. Being a mentor is about knowing you’re good enough. Having to be. Because at the end of the day, that's someone's life in your hands, a life you could just as easily end by having them learn the wrong behaviours. A life, you could also potentially be ending if you pass them off to someone you don’t even trust. It's your decision, but it really comes down to this. Are you going to be good enough? Or are you gonna pray that someone else is?”

Piers finished his speech, helping Claire gather up the photos as she was still thinking about his words. He shuffled the pictures, sliding a picture of Chris on his own in his S.T.A.R.S uniform on top. Claire finally withdrew from her thoughts, standing with Piers and taking the photos from his outstretched hand. “You’re right.” She straightened. “I should take responsibility. Damn, I didn’t think we’d end this little show-and-tell with a lecture.” She smiled despite herself. 

Piers half-shrugged, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Well, what are best friends for, I have to make sure you stay on your toes.” Claire walked around the table to hug him again. She smiled into his shoulder as she could feel him glaring at the cadets again. He swore under his breath as Claire heard a metallic BOOM from behind her. “Well, I guess that would signal the end of our talking time.” He sighed. Claire pulled away to see a soldier running after a tire that was rolling away from the BSAA garage. Piers looked tired as he clapped his friend on the shoulder.

“See you when I see you?” He asked. Claire grinned. “Yeah, see ya.” The two walked off in their opposite directions, before Claire turned back, yelling to Piers. “By the way! Hope you like that little gift I left in your pocket!” She smiled mysteriously, giving him a wave before she finally set off. Piers looked puzzled as he patted himself down, finally reaching into his pocket and pulling out the two pictures Claire had left him. It was the shirtless one, as well as the S.T.A.R.S uniform picture he had placed on top of the pile.

Piers smiled, placing the shirtless picture in a pocket of his uniform that wouldn’t be found easily whilst slipping the other one where he had found it, no doubt for it to be shown to his team later. He started to bark orders at terror-stricken cadets as they scrambled to clear up the mess in the garage. 

Claire sat on a wall outside of the BSAA headquarters, waiting for her ride. To Claire’s surprise, she suddenly saw Chris pull up in his car instead. He parked, walking around to his boot and picking up what looked to be a weapons case. He eventually caught his sister's eye and made his way over to her position as soon as he noticed her, the case still in hand. “What’re you doing here?” He asked as she stood up. “Funny I was about to ask you the same thing, thought you were checking out something up North?” Claire shot back.

“Ah yeah, turned out to be an empty threat, I swear I could’ve punched the guy.” Chris looked as pissed as he sounded. Claire motioned to the case. “New toy?” Chris raised the weapons case to show her the writing on the side. “Rocket launcher.” Chris grinned. Claire patted her brother on the back as she noticed her ride had arrived. “Nice, try not to blow anything up around here, I’m sure Piers will give you hell.” She walked toward her friend’s car.

“I’m sure he will, although I’m not sure how I should feel about you two being so close nowadays.” Chris looked kind of confused, and a little worried. Claire smiled. “Don’t worry, it's just so we can both kick your ass if you do something stupid.” She wiggled her eyebrows before sliding into the passenger seat of the car. “Greaaat.” Chris shot back sarcastically,  
waving her off before heading into the training grounds behind the building. 

Chris eventually found the rest of his team standing around his First Lieutenant, Piers himself, wearing a triumphant smirk on his face. They were all laughing and talking as they all stared at something in Nivans’ hands. Chris walked up quietly, placing his case down gently near Piers’ rifle before standing behind Finn and the others. He stood like that for a while, unbeknownst to the others, trying to work out what the joke was. Eventually, Chris got tired and decided to speak up.

“So, what's so funny, huh?” Chris asked, causing Finn and the others to jump out of their skin. “Oh! Captain- We didn’t know you’d be back yet-” Finn stammered. The guy was the newest in the unit, still green-behind-the-ears and fearful of his seniors. He had yet to be a part of any operations yet and had not been cleared for active duty. Chris raised an eyebrow as he looked toward Piers.

“Well Captain, since you’ve decided to not participate in our sharing of older pictures, I’m afraid that I’ve had to take drastic measures to ensure your inclusion.” His teammates snickered and laughed at Piers’ tone. Chris began to grow slightly nervous as he pulled out what he now could see was a photograph. “After all, its hardly fair of you to not take part, especially when you’re hiding masterpieces such as this.” Piers flipped the photo to show Chris. He grew slightly red as he realised what he was looking at. He made a grab for the picture, just barely missing it as Piers kept his distance.

“I’m gonna kill Claire.” Chris sighed as he went for the picture again, his teammates laughing and cheering as Piers continued to evade. “Hey, I did warn you. Its good to interact with your fellow men, builds trust. This is just one of those ways of doing so.” Piers let him grab the photo, their fingers overlapping slightly. Piers cocked his head slightly as Chris returned his stare, looking slightly peeved. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Chris gave in with a heavy sigh.

“Fine, you owe me though.” He said with exasperation. He let go of the picture and stepped back. “That's fine, I know a few good places with great steak anyways.” He smiled. The Lieutenant walked off towards the cheering crowd of soldiers under Chris’ gaze. He couldn’t help but smile a little at his partner’s antics, he knew deep down that they were all in Chris’ best interest after all. And hey, maybe he could let it slide just this once.

Just this once.


End file.
